Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Kaisergruft

At the Schonbrun Cafe. It has been perishing cold. At least for me. We all had "Forestberry Cocktail" tea. I had a "Habsburger" (very humourous, a cheap gimick for a hamburger). Christine had goulash soup and Uschi had a nice chocolate mousse. Christine berated me (twice and probably rightly) for having chips.

This morning we went to the crypt to see all the dead Habsburgs. It is under the Capuchin church, also known as the Kapuzinergruft.We also stopped into Lobmeyrs. Uschi was looking at a lovely pair of green antique glasses. On impulse I purchased 2 fine glasses.

After Uschi pays for the meal we intend to go up to the Gloriette. We are the only guests along the side of the cafe, the "Winter Garden". We conned the staff into letting us sit in this area due to Christines limited mobility, even though it is meant to be closed. They didn't really want us there as "it wasn't heated" although it was better than outside and the main restaurant was stifling anyway.

While we were sitting there, seemingly hordes of people came to sit in the side section.

1530 at the GlorietteWe all shared a "Sisi Gugelhoepf", I had an "Almdudler" lemonade which was quite nice. Uschi had a white wine Gluehwein and Christine had a red one. I had a sip of them both and I think the red one was better. On the way up to the Gloriette we met another group with a wheelchair. They had a small boy who was evidently recovering from some fearsome burns with some of his fingers gone. Uschi spoke to them for a while about South Australia, and surprisingly I could understand the conversation reasonablywell. I gave the boy a clip on koala.

The sun is now setting and the light is shining through the rear windows of the Gloriette highlighting the decoration on the ornate architraves.

About Me

An Australian country boy, who in his forties (and on an impulse) decided to go to Germany in 2004. And then again with my kids in 2005 (including France and the UK too) and then _again_ in 2006 (France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium)! I visited Austria and Spain for Christmas 2008/9 and have spent some time in the Middle East as well as a couple of visits to Pacific Islands.
Bit of a travel junkie I think.
In addition to being a keen recreational pilot qualified to fly gliders, ultralights and general aviation, since starting this blog, I have also taken up a little bit of diving and some underwater photography, so bits of that will also appear.